interiorsandsources.com december2016 interiors+sources 41As a renowned designer and trend forecaster in the design community, Stacy Garcia often finds inspiration during her time spent on the road. “Inspiration for me absolutely comes from my travels, especially boutique hotels,” she said. “I will often make visits to different locales just toexperience how design is impacting various places. I also find inspiration in patternsand colors form different cultures.”In Garcia’s recent collaboration with Durkan Hospitality, she was particularlyinspired by Asian cultures for the new Pacific Rim carpet collection, which wasalso very much influenced by a return to traditional textile making. “As the nameimplies, you see patterning, color, and techniques that come from a certain areaof the world,” Garcia noted. “With traditional textile making, there is a real hands-on approach; Pacific Rim honors these traditional techniques with a return to thecraftsmanship and history of textile making from this part of the world. There isan overarching desire for people today to unplug from technology and surroundthemselves with authentic items.”With that, the design process for Pacific Rim began by hand, with Garcia’steam conceptualizing the collection with handmade patterns and illustrations. Byutilizing this traditional technique, a connection is made to materials and goodsthat aren’t mass produced by machines. “These designs don’t look computergenerated on purpose,” she explained. “I went to art school before computers, soI was doing hand-carved block printing, hand looming, and painting with watercolors.

To create a collection utilizing these techniques was so much fun. I challenged the
team to dig in and not use computers until we were ready to scan their designs.

It had to start by hand, like the old-fashioned way of making textiles.”
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT Garcia describes Pacific Rim as
having a “beautiful simplicity to it. It is so zen, with
a quiet approach. There is a really peaceful, almost
meditative, way the patterns lay out.” The blues in the
collection deliver serenity, meant to evoke the feeling
of the Pacific Ocean, returning to a very calm state. Hues
include traditional washed-denim blues, indigo dyes, and
a persimmon accent color. Garcia’s goal with hospitality
designs is to add value to hotels, ultimately impacting
guests’ experiences in a positive way. “It’s very different
than art on the wall,” she explained. “These designs are
part of a larger schematic.”